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Witness, experts testify in Florence murder trial
[August 11, 2011]

Witness, experts testify in Florence murder trial


Aug 11, 2011 (Florence Morning News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- FLORENCE, S.C. -- A neighbor of a Florence man accused of killing his live-in girlfriend, then placing her body in the trunk of her car, testified Wednesday that she saw him in that car the weekend the body was discovered.



Laurie Ford said at some point during the weekend of Oct. 12, 2009, she noticed Roger Bruce sitting in Laura Creel's vehicle, which was parked in the driveway at the garage apartment the two shared at 1450 King Ave.

Ford couldn't recall whether she saw him in the morning on Saturday or Sunday, but said she did see him leave in the car at least once that weekend.


Bruce, 56, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Creel, his girlfriend of about 15 years.

Creel's body was found in the trunk of her car Oct. 12, 2009. An autopsy revealed she died from a single gunshot wound to the head and had been dead for about two days by the time her body was discovered.

Creel's son Shane Ritch called police to report that his mother hadn't been seen or heard from in several days after he got a disturbing late night phone call from Bruce.

Ritch said Bruce was on Creel's cell phone, which made him concerned. He said he grew even more concerned when Bruce told him Creel had left her cell phone, pet Pomeranian and car behind.

"She didn't go nowhere without that car, and she did not leave the house without her cell phone," he said. "And that dog went everywhere with her, except work. If she went to the store, the dog went too." Ritch also testified his mother not only didn't leave the house without her car but also didn't let anyone, her sons and Bruce included, drive it.

When officers arrived at the garage apartment Creel and Bruce shared, they checked Creel's vehicle and found her body inside the trunk.

The Florence Police Department's Crime Scene Unit was called. Officers obtained a search warrant to search the residence. Florence Police Sgt. Michael Brandt testified Wednesday that during that search, officers recovered a rifle and a spent shell casing.

State Law Enforcement Division Special Agent Kenneth Whitler, a firearms examiner, testified he tested the gun, the shell casing and the bullet retrieved from Creel's body.

Whitler said the spent casing was definitely fired from the rifle found in the house. The bullet retrieved from Creel's body could have been fired from that weapon, but Whitler said he "couldn't say it was to the exclusion of all other rifles." Testimony in Bruce's trial will resume at 10 a.m. Thursday in the 11th floor courtroom at the Florence City-County Complex.

To see more of the Florence Morning News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www2.scnow.com/community/morningnews/. Copyright (c) 2011, Florence Morning News, S.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com.

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